3D Fluff Training for CINEMA 4D
Volume 2 - Radiosity Interiors

Reviewed By Kathie Berry

Radiosity has always been one of the items in CINEMA 4D that I have long wanted to incorporate into my renders, but really couldn't get the results that I wanted. Mostly because I didn't understand how radiosity worked, and the render times seemed unbelievably slow for someone with no patience. I would see other's work using it however and feel amazed at the difference it made in realistic renders. It just seemed to be one of the functions that I couldn't get a handle on.

Then came this terrific DVD by 3DFluff on using Advanced Render's radiosity in interior renders. Thanks to Janine's wonderful visual aids and explanations along with Mash's input as well, they shed light on not only how to achieve wonderful realism in my renders using radiosity but how and why it works the way it does. Janine walks you through all of the options available and shows you what each one produces and how to optimize each for not only high quality renders but how to lessen render times. She finishes with multi-pass rendering and final postwork in Photoshop that really adds to the realistic feel of the render. Thanks to this training DVD I now have the basic knowledge which will allow me to set up my own scenes using radiosity and greatly improve my renders.

The length of this DVD is over 2½ hours and while the tutorial uses Cinema 4D R9, most of the material is also applicable to XL7 or 8.

Main topics covered:

How to set up materials with radiosity in mind

Setting up and using radiosity to achieve high quality and fast renders

Photoshop editing of the rendered image (combined with Multi-pass rendering)

Common pitfalls when using radiosity

This DVD is not recommended for beginners. The project requires the Advanced Render module and a 1.8GHz or higher CPU is highly recommended. You will need to download and install a Codec first which can be found here. The codec is also included on the DVD for Windows and MAC OSX and OS9. The Mac version needs Quicktime and the Windows version needs Windows Media Player.

Included on this DVD are:

Project files

Codec for Windows and MAC

Video tutorials

Extra "goodies" including materials, HDRI files, models and the Camtasia Player

The video tutorials begin with Janine walking you through setting up your room, the camera angle and basic outside lighting. In the images below, you will see my progression through the various steps of setting up the scene and lighting.

As always in their tutorial DVD's they both explain how things work and why as well as what different settings can do to improve your scene or be a detriment to the look you are trying to achieve. Mash explains exactly what radiosity is, how it works and why you need it.

Janine painstakingly walks you through each step of setting up the various components of the scene, how the light affects each one and how you can improve the look of each wall, model and material in the scene. I was also really surprised to find out just how much the materials affect the overall look and feel of the radiosity renders. She takes you into the render settings and shows you what each setting does and how different values can affect the look of the lighting and materials.

I learned the intricacies of not only how the attributes of the scene receive the light but how to adjust the material's settings to receive that light and radiosity in the very best way for my renders. Camera angles, materials, render settings all play a very crucial part in how your scene renders in quality as well as optimizing for better yet quicker renders. The training session ended with exporting the scene as a multi-pass render and taking it into Photoshop for further post work. Janine explained how easy it is to adjust certain aspects of the render in Photoshop to get that all important realistic lighting and feel to the image where it would have taken days to set up and render those aspects in CINEMA 4D. It all plays a part in achieving what we all want, that render that makes you as well as everyone else go "Ahhhhh, yes!"

To experiment a bit on my own after finishing the training, I created my own room and using a couple of the models from the scene file provided on the DVD as well as a few of my own models, I set up my own lighting using Janine's guidance. While not nearly as professional as Janine's, I was quite happy with the way it turned out and I know that I will get better with practice.

Conclusion:
This DVD training session taught me so much. I now understand radiosity and how it works thanks to Janine and Mash and plan on incorporating it into my renders for interior scenes. I know that no matter what your expertise in lighting, there will be something in this DVD that will aid you in setting up your scenes. Another excellent training DVD compiled by Mash and Janine of 3DFluff. You can read more about this particular DVD here at their site. As always, one leads to another and I can't wait to get on with the next.

System Requirements:

Windows PC or Apple Mac with a DVD-Rom drive. This DVD will NOT play in a standalone DVD player.